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Should Florida rush on immigration?

Protesters celebrate at the Arizona capitol Wednesday, only hours after portions of Arizona's immigration law was blocked by a federal judge.

“This is a warning to any other jurisdiction” considering a similar law, said Thomas A. Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. By “this,” he meant a federal judge’s ruling on Wednesday that prevented most of Arizona’s controversial new immigration law from taking effect on Thursday.

Though Judge Bolton only issued an injunction, it seems clear from her ruling that she would rule for the federal government at a trial. The Department of Justice argues that the state law would cause “irreparable harm” to the federal government’s ability to carry out immigration policy, which is a federal matter.

In this election year, though, Florida supporters of the law remain undeterred. Some legislators are ready to pass a state version of the law at a September special session that is supposed to focus on the gulf oil spill. But it’s an election year, and polls show that most Americans support the law.

We believe that given the comments by Judge Bolton, any Florida law would draw a similar lawsuit, and the state would lose. We believe that Florida, which isn’t a border state and can’t make some of the argument Arizona did, should wait for the court to decide. What do you think? Take our poll.